Ashes
by ThatRandomEnglishPerson
Summary: My name is Abigail Blane and I am one of Erudite's biggest secrets. We are the slaves of the Erudite, though most of them don't know that we are their slaves. We work almost every day, lugging heavy boxes or cleaning laboratories and lots of other gruelling tasks. But I'm not alone, I have Eric...
1. Ashes Prolouge

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything apart from my OCs, plot line. I wish I did own Divergent as many do but unfortunately it belongs to Veronica Roth.**

**I am on deviantart and have posted some drawings I've drawn of Ashe. The link is on my profile.**

**I have created a Facebook page so please drop in and give me a like!**

**Welcome to Ashes. There will be kissing, fighting, cheating, secrets, lies, and a bit of torture on the side. ;D Okay people, let's get this party started!**

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**"I'll see you in the future when we're older**

**And we are full of stories to be told."**

**Bastille**

**Laughter Lines**

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My name is Abigail Blane and I am one of Erudite's biggest secrets. We are the slaves of the Erudite, though most of them don't know that. We live in cold, damp steel cells, eating the bland, crappy food that they give us and, doing everything they say. We work almost every day, lugging heavy boxes or cleaning laboratories and lots of other grueling tasks. I am 14 years old but the documents say I'm 12; I was put in this cell when I was 6 years old, supposedly when I was 4. Though life here is terrible, there is one tiny bit of freedom. Every Sunday, we are allowed to go do whatever we want. I run. I walk to the marsh, then I run down the grassy, uneven path until it is time to go back. I love running. Nothing can compare to the feeling that I get when I run; the adrenaline pulsing through my veins, the thumps of my feet against the solid ground, the wind whistling through my hair. I have to admit that running undoubtedly is my favorite thing, maybe because it makes me feel free. But then reality sets in and I'm dragged back to my cell and forced to do another week of hard labor.

I am not here alone, I have Eric. He'd been in this cell alone 2 years before I came, meaning that he is 2 years older than me. Eric's always been there for me and I for him. Sometimes, if you slack during the day or stay out too long on Sundays then they cut you on the back with a knife. That's when Eric is most comforting. We will sit together on the floor, Eric's arm around me, the bandages wrapped around our backs that slowly turn red as our life blood seeps through. We talk about Dauntless, the brave faction, how that on the choosing day we'll drop our blood onto the coals. That's our dream.

It is Eric's choosing day today, he is 16. I don't want him to leave, but I do want him to leave as well. 4 years without him, having to survive in this prison alone but then we'll be together, together in Dauntless.

Eric jumps down from his bunk and prods me with his foot. "Abigail, wake up, you're not sleeping in on my choosing day," I roll over to face him. Eric has dirty blonde hair shaved short like the boys in Abnegation and cold dark grey eyes. He wears a pair of thin rectangular glasses and a smart Erudite blue suit. "Eric!" I whine as I roll out of bed. I look around and sigh. The room that me and Eric share is horrid, lonely, and cold. The steel floors and walls have nothing to insulate them so the coldness of this underground slave factory seeps in every second of the day - and night, forever. The bunks that we sleep on are just large uneven slabs of metal, held up by two rusting brackets, ready to snap and crush whoever's underneath to death.

I stand up slowly, shivering heavily. I walk over to the right hand corner of the room, near the door, to the pile of our blue clothes. Slowly, I get dressed straight away, not afraid to show Eric my underwear.

"I don't want you to leave," I say to Eric as I pull on my tight, blue shirt.

"I don't want to leave you either, especially here" he replies, giving me a dispirited glance.

My hands start to shake even more as my throat tightens and I try to keep the tears from falling down my face. I fumble with the buttons on my shirt but, then larger hands gently rest on mine and move them down before beginning to do up the remaining buttons. A tear rolls down my cheek and splashes onto the steel floor. Eric does up the last button on my shirt and then places his hands gently on my cheeks, wiping away the falling tears with his thumbs. His large callused hands run down my jawline with their familiar roughness. I wrap my arms around him and rest my head on his shoulder. He then lifts my head up, his deep blue eyes staring into mine with a new found passion. I don't know who does it first but, it doesn't matter. Eric's lips meet mine and he pushes me against the wall. I don't oblige, I join in, pushing myself closer to him. I moan as Eric runs his lips down my jaw line and Eric growls as he smashes his lips back to mine. But I know that our time is running out. I gently push Eric away and sadness fills his eyes when he realizes what I mean. "I think I might be in love with you Abbie," he whispers. I nod in agreement and pull Eric into another embrace. We stand there for a while, as if to prolong what little time we have left. Eric pulls away and takes off his glasses. "A reminder," he says as he places them in my hand. "Goodbye Abigail," he says.

"Goodbye Eric," I reply.

As if they were waiting for our farewell to finish, the cell door bangs open, making me jump, and the guards drag Eric away from me.

I know that in exactly 4 years time, we will be reunited and free. Free...


	2. The Aptitude Test

**A.N.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Divergent, I only own my characters, plotlines and words.**

**Please come give a like to my Facebook page! Free cookies if you do.**

**Here's the first chapter of Ashes: hope you enjoy...**

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**"Do your best, but bear in mind that sometimes even your best efforts ****don't give the desired results." **

**― Eraldo Banovac**

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Ashes

Chapter 1

I wake up to Lillie literally screaming in my ear. "Abbie, Abbie, wake up, today's the aptitude test,"

"I know, piss off," I retort.

Lillie became my cell mate after Eric left for Dauntless. She was born in the Erudite cells and when Eric left they decided to move her in with me. It's obvious that she's Amity, she's happy all the time. And she's very optimistic...most of the time.

She gets so worried that she'll be forced to choose Erudite so that she will have to continue being a slave. To be nice, I tell her she can transfer to Amity, 'there's no guards holding your hand over the Erudite bowl the day we choose'. I hope she's going to choose Amity, it'll make others choose different factions as well.

"Are we going to scatter your mother's ashes after the test?" A wave of sadness hits me. My mother died a year after Eric left, she was a slave too; my father I don't know, though he must be a higher authority.

I told myself that on the day of my test, I'd scatter her ashes whilst running along the marsh. "Yeah, after the test, I'm glad they changed the day off to today." I tell Lillie. I roll out of bed and then Lillie holds up a sheet for me to get changed; we're not comfortable seeing each other nude even though we have to shower together. I do the same for her. Soon after, the guard shouts for us to get ready.

"Are you nervous?" Lillie asks.

"Yeah, that I'll get Erudite as my result,"

"Me too,"

"But we won't, I'll get Dauntless and you'll get Amity,"

"It's good to be positive-"

Halfway through Lillie's sentence a guard opens the door and pulls us out. He leads us through the white corridors to breakfast. There are others walking around us as well. Most are stick thin but some, like me, have built up some muscle and are not as thin. Everyone wears similar clothes: blue suits. I can't wait to join Dauntless, I'll be able to choose what I get to wear. I think the majority of my clothes will be red; I like red, it's my favourite colour.

Lillie starts skipping beside me and just as I'm about to tell her to stop, a guard shrieks at her, throwing what looks like a paperweight in our direction. I duck but, it hits Lillie square in the nose. I straighten up, watching a tear roll down Lillie's cheek. "Ha, look at the little cry baby," the shrieking guard snorts. I glare at him earning me a glare back. "Come on, Lillie," I growl, now in a fowl mood, and start walking, not caring if Lillie is following or not.

I storm in to the food hall where hundreds of guards watch hundreds of slaves eat. I join the queue, not caring if I've pushed in front of anyone. As soon as I can, I grab my bowl of mush and head over to an empty table. I quickly spoon the potash into my mouth and then get up, putting my styrofoam bowl in the bin. I walk towards the meeting room, where we have to go before we're let out to the world. Lillie has my mum's urn, I trust her with it and she's less likely to be inspected. I walk into the meeting room to see the group of 18 other slaves taking the test today. Lillie is standing silently in the corner, she must have missed breakfast to be here before me. I sigh and walk over to her.

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We walk to the test surrounded by a mass of guards pretending to be nervous parents. I walk at the front of the group, my stomach tingling with excitement and nervousness. Lillie is towards the back, looking slightly glum. I tried to cheer her up but, I'm better at making people upset than happy. I see five long lines protruding from five different doors. We walk to the Erudite line and then, we wait.

Finally after the long wait, I walk down the corridor towards the test. I enter into a room made of mirrors. An Abnegation woman sits next to an orange glowing chair. "Hi Abigail, I'm Emily, take a seat," I plonk onto the chair and swing my legs up. I see Emily filling a small vile with a blue liquid. She hands it to me. "What is it?" I ask.

"The test, drink up,"

I swallow the foul tasting liquid and rest my head on the headrest. I close my eyes then open them to find that Emily has vanished. I get up and look around, suddenly I see myself everywhere. I get up off the chair and look around. There is one reflection that stands out, it's facing the wrong direction to be a mirror image of me. I go to inspect the wrong reflection when I hear a voice. "Choose," I turn around to see a reflection pointing to 2 plates, one holds a huge piece of meat, the other a knife. "Choose," she says again. Going with my gut instinct, I pick up the knife. Suddenly I hear a growl. I spin around to see a huge dog. It looks ready to attack. Without thinking, I hurl the knife at it. It hits the dog in the middle of the head. I feel relieved as the dead dog collapses to the floor. Behind me I hear a sobbing sound, so I turn around. I see a younger me crying on the floor. "Why did you kill it?" she sobs. "It was going to hurt me, I had to stop it," I say, a harsh tone to my voice. Then I come back to reality.

"Well done," Emily says.

"What's my result?"

"Dauntless, I hope you're pleased,"

"Hell yeah!" I shout.

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I walk along the marsh path with Lillie. I am holding my mother's urn. "Shall we start here?" Lillie asks.

"Yeah," I say. I take off the lid and hand it to Lillie. I put my hand in the urn and start to toss my mother's ashes out. I start jogging, throwing out ash every step that I take. Soon I am sprinting and a cloud of ash is behind me. A small idea comes to my head. In Dauntless, you get to choose a new name, my name will remember this moment.

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**Hey, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let us hope that I can update soon.**

**ThatRandomBritishPerson signing out.**


	3. Choosing the Brave

Hi, this is ThatRandomBritishPerson reporting for duty. I want the guy on the train to be a little plot twist, tell me if I should make him that little plot twist. This chapter seems a bit short but the point I stopped felt good for your entertainment.

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Ashes

Chapter 2

I wake up to Lillie screaming again. "I know, I'm excited too, but I'm not screaming about it," I moan.

"Sorry, I'm going to be Amity in less than 24 hours,"

"Hallelujah," I say rolling out of bed. We do the usual hold sheet thing and then sit on my bottom bunk.

"So Abbie, any deep secrets you wanna tell me before we split paths," she giggles with excitement. I think it over, part of me wants to tell her about Eric, part of me doesn't. But, seeing as this may be the last time that I will see Lillie I might as well tell her.

"Well, you know there was someone in this cell before you joined me in this hellhole."

"Yes, who was she?"

"He was called Eric,"

"Was he hot?"

"Yup,"

"Why isn't he still in here then? Oh, are you suggesting that they ki-"

"No!" I cut in. "We made out just before his choosing ceremony where he joined Dauntless," I blurt out.

"Oh my god, that is so cute, he's waiting for you in Dauntless," Lillie squeals.

Then, as usual, a guard interrupts our conversation by slamming the door open and yelling at us to get moving.

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We walk to The Hub, again with the mass of guards surrounding us. When we get there we don't take the lift to the top but, join the Abnegations taking the stairs. When we enter the huge ceremony room, it is buzzing with chatter. This year the ceremony is held by Amity. I see the five bowls, dirt for Amity, glass for Candor, water for Erudite, stones for Abnegation and hot coals for Dauntless. The hot coals are mine. I walk up to my seat and sit down to wait for the ceremony to start.

It soon starts and because my surname begins with a B it means that I will be the first Erudite slave up. The first person to get up is a blonde Candor girl, she drops her blood onto the grey stones of Abnegation. The Candors gasp and the Abnegation clap. The next person, a ginger Amity boy chooses Amity, which is not surprising. After that, I begin to lose concentration, focusing on when I walk up to the bowls instead.

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"Abigail Blane!" Slowly, I get up and walk towards the bowls, my heart pounding. I'm so close to becoming Dauntless. I step up to the bowls and pick up the sharp metal knife. Carefully I cut into the fleshy part of my palm. It stings a little and seconds later blood begins to pool around the incision. Without hesitation I hold my hand over the coals and squeeze. My blood drips onto the coals and sizzles. "Dauntless!" Joanna Reyes announces. The Erudites gasp and the Dauntless whoop. I gasp a sigh of relief then plaster a huge grin on my face and jog over to the Dauntless. Several Dauntless give me high fives as I sit down. I look back up to the Erudite and wink at Lillie who waves back. I also notice some guards who are glaring at me with a look that says, 'you can't escape us bitch,' but I know better.

Soon after Lillie's name is called. I cheer as she drops her blood onto the Amity soil. But, unfortunately no other Erudite slaves choose other factions. I don't really care about them now, I'm Dauntless! After that the ceremony flies by and soon it is time to leave.

The Dauntless get up first, we need to leave first because we need to catch the train. But we will still have to run if we want to be there on time. We jog out the ceremony room, then run down the stairs shouting and laughing. We speed down the streets toward the platform where we will be jumping onto the train. We stop at the first train platform we come across and start climbing the orange columns. I can't stop myself from whooping as I scale my column as quickly as the Dauntless born do. Now all we have to do is wait for the train to come. When it comes round the corner I start jogging along the platform. It rushes past and, timing my jump, I leap on after a few Dauntless born onto the first carriage.

They give me huge smiles as I jump on. "Wow, I've never seen a transfer jump on to the first carriage before. I'm Zeke the Dauntless born instructor," introduces a Dauntless with tan skin, black hair and eyes. He sticks out his hand and I shake it. "I never fitted in at Erudite, I guess I was always Dauntless at heart." I smile. Zeke starts to chat with some other people so I walk over to a Dauntless born guy and lean on the wall next to him. "Hey," I say. "Hey," he says back. He's tall and has olive skin. He also has black hair in a small quiff with soft brown eyes. We stand in silence until Zeke says, "Guys, get ready to jump." I look out the window and see the train approaching a roof that belongs to the Dauntless compound. I position myself ready to jump, not scared by the large gap between the train and the roof. "Not scared smartass?" mocks the guy I stood next to. "No," I say and leap from the train.

I land on the gravel roof standing but then, I fall on my butt. The guy who stood next to me lands next to me on both feet. He stands in front of me and starts laughing. "Wow, you jumped out first. Impressive! Need a hand," he says through chuckles. "No," I growl and then push myself up.

And that's when I see him.

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Who is it?

ThatRandomBritishPerson signing out.


	4. My Name Is Ashe

**Hallo people, this is ThatRandomBritishPerson signing in.**

**I decided to name the guy from the train Jai after Jai Courtney who plays the wonderful Eric in the movie. I am basing Eric on the movie version of him, which is why I am writing this fanfic. This chapter is longer. Also, I am making a trailer for this fanfic and hopefully will be up on youtube sometime in the future. Hope you enjoy this next instalment of Ashes...**

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Ashes

Chapter 3

My Name Is Ashe

He's beautiful. That is all I can think. His dirty blonde hair has a side parting that has been shaved around the side making it look like some sort of quiff. He has a black stud in each ear and he has two more black studs above his left eyebrow, right if you were standing the same direction as him. He has tattoos on his forearms that look like a maze of lines with a scale pattern joining everything together and two identical tattoos on his neck that appear to be two lines next to each other in a symmetrical pattern going down from just under his chin to the bottom of his neck. His cold dark grey blue eyes lock with mine. They tell me that he wants to run over and pull me into his arms but he can't. I understand.

The guy who I stood next to waves his hand in front of my face. "That's Eric. You don't want to attract his attention, he's the meanest guy in Dauntless. He's known for beating the shit out of initiates and also, 'coz I know that you think he's hot, every girl who's tried to get him to bed ends up with an injury of some kind," he warns but, it makes me love Eric even more. I ignore the guy from the train and walk up to join the group standing in front of Eric.

Breaking through the excited chatter, Eric yells, "Listen up initiates, I'm Eric." I already know that... "I'm one of your Dauntless leaders." Bloody hell, he's only been in Dauntless four years! "The only way to enter Dauntless is to jump off this roof. If you can't then you are not worthy of Dauntless." I stand on my tiptoes and look over the edge to see a huge black hole that looks like it leads to oblivion. "Who wants to go first?" Eric asks. Everyone goes silent. Something in me makes me do it, "Yeah, I'll go," I say pushing to the front. Eric nods at me, a proud smirk playing on his lips. I step up onto the ledge and look down. I feel Eric watching me, waiting for me to jump into the place where we always dreamed to go. _We're so close to our dream Eric, _I whisper in my head. I take a deep breath and turn around to face my fellow initiates. I pull off my suit jacket and hurl it into the crowd. And then… I backflip off the ledge.

Jumping from that roof must be scary. Flipping from that roof is terrifying. I don't scream, I can't, I learned not to scream when they cut my back. I fall with my eyes closed, still spinning from the flip. Suddenly I hit something bouncy. I open my eyes as I bounce up and down on a net. "A net, there's a net at the bottom," I whisper to myself. The net dips and a hand grabs my shoulder. I jump in surprise and whack the hand away so that I can climb off the net by myself. Landing on the solid concrete of the Dauntless compound, I see that the person belonging to the hand is a tall, well-muscled, tanned guy with deep blue eyes and light brown hair that is shaved short like the Abnegation. Standing next to him is a short willowy girl with sharp green eyes and long blonde hair in a bun, also like the Abnegation do. There are other Dauntless standing around too.

"Name?" asks the brown haired guy. Finally the moment I've been waiting for.

"Ashe, with an E on the end" I say with coldness to my voice .

"First Jumper, Ashe," he yells.

"With an E on the end," yells the blonde haired girl. I grin at her and then she shows me where I have to stand. As I walk towards my spot, a scream fills the air. When I turn to face the net, I see the guy from the train getting helped out by the brown haired guy. I snigger at him; seriously, a Dauntless screaming at jumping off a roof. The brown haired guy shouts, "Second Jumper, Jai." Jai comes and stands next to me. "What's your name?" He asks.

"Ashe, with an E on the end," I say.

"Impressive," he says. I don't talk to him after that, I don't really want to anyway. Soon everyone is down except the only Amity, a small brown haired boy. I see a streak of black, then Eric jumps off the net. "Amity kid didn't want to jump. Now he's Factionless," he informs us; I notice that his eyes search for mine and they relax when our eyes make contact again. Eric tears his eyes away from mine and walks off down the corridor in front of us. A skinny dark brown haired woman coughs at us for attention, "Hi I'm Lauren, I'm training the Dauntless born with Zeke. Dauntless born follow me," She walks off and Jai leaves my side, thank God.

"Hello, I'm Four and this is Tris," the brown haired guy says pointing to himself and the blonde haired girl who stands next to him.

"Four, like the number?" a pale, ginger haired, Candor named Elijah asks.

"Exactly like the number," Four says. Elijah sniggers and whispers, "Are his brothers called 1 2 and 3?" Four walks up to him and grabs him by the collar. "One thing Elijah, if you want to survive here then keep your mouth shut," Four spits, his voice low and quiet. He lets Elijah go and walks ahead. "Follow me," he says gruffly.

We follow him quietly and he tells us about the different places. "This is the Pit," he says as we enter a huge room. I see why it's called the Pit, it's literally a pit. There is a wide rock path leading around the side and, in the walls, there are several shops. "You'll get several points each month, depending on which job you get. Though seeing as you won't have a job in training we give you a hundred points each; it may seem like a lot but it's not much at all. People like Eric earn about 2,000 a month," Four mutters, spitting out Eric's name with venom to his voice. I have a feeling that Four and Eric don't get along.

Four starts walking again and takes us down through the Pit until we reach the bottom. What is at the bottom looks like a huge crack with a tiny rickety bridge stretching across it. "This is the Chasm. It shows us the fine line between bravery and idiocy. If you were to fall or jump in then," Four pauses for a second, a grim look on his face, "there is no chance you would survive." I have a feeling that, from the looks on both Four and Tris' faces, suicide isn't uncommon here. Four starts walking again, leading us through the rest of Dauntless, showing us the canteen, the training room, and several other places that we may want to visit later.

We enter a room filled with small cot-like beds. "This is where you'll be sleeping for the next ten weeks, boys and girls." Some girls start pulling disgusted faces at the fact that they will have to share a room with boys for ten weeks; I've stayed in a room with a boy for 12 years, his name is Eric. "If you like this then you'll love the bathroom," Tris grins. I walk up to the bathroom and look inside, there are 3 showers and 8 toilets and a few dirty looking sinks and some urinals as well. The urinals and sinks are out in the open but the toilets and showers are enclosed in rusting metal cubicles.

"Eww," Trinity, an Erudite girl, wretches. She makes gagging motions and then zips over to a cot on the other side of the room. I don't get why she did that, she... A jolt of anger passes through me and I glare coldly at the girl that I know will get on my nerves.

Four and Tris leave us to get changed into our new Dauntless clothes, so we can burn them and then go eat dinner. I quickly change into my new clothes, the tight leggings and tank top with leather jacket fit well. Amy, an Ex-Candor, asks why I have the scars on my back. I say that I got attacked by Factionless when I was a kid. Everyone believes that. They also ask why I have a small six pack of abs, it's because I had to do lots of physical work at the Erudite cells, but I tell them that I tried to teach myself to fight after the Factionless incident. They believe that as well, suddenly wary of my 'advantage'. Stupid idiots. Even the Candor can't tell I'm lying.

We walk into the furnace room. Some people hold on to their old clothes for a little longer. I chuck mine straight in. Why can't they just let go of the past.

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We walk to the canteen. When we reach the hall the Dauntless are chatting, and all the seats are nearly taken. I see an empty table with just Four and Tris on it. I wouldn't want to sit next to Eric, it would look weird, but anyway I can't see him at a table. I plonk myself down next to Tris. "Hi Ashe, enjoying Dauntless so far?" She cheerfully asks. " Absolutely, it's awesome. I can't wait to start the first stage," I smile.

"Do you know what the first stage is?" She asks.

"I've heard that it's fighting," I answer truthfully; whilst we were getting changed some people were discussing it and I had the nerve to eavesdrop.

"Well, you've heard right. Tomorrow we start fighting in the morning til lunch then we do shooting in the afternoon. The next day in the afternoon we do knife throwing. And then it alternates between the two. Also we may take you for a jog around the city."

I feel someone sit next to me. "Hi Jai," Tris says. Great, the guy from the train. "Hi Ashe," he says.

"Hi," I say back. I pick up a delicious looking food that I heard someone say was a hotdog. I take a bite and then realize how much I have been deprived of good food. "Are you alright Ashe? You look kinda pissed. Is our Dauntless food too bad for your exquisite Erudite palette?" Tris giggles. Taking another bite of realization, I sigh, "No, I like it. I'm thinking about something else. It doesn't matter."

"If you like this food then you'll love the Dauntless chocolate cake; I can assure you that it's beautiful. But not as beautiful as you, Ashe," Jai flirts. I glare at him. He looks quite shocked. Tris giggles, "Jai! Stop flirting; not every girl likes your philandering." I smirk slightly and continue to eat my hot dog. And as my mood returns to being relatively happy, I find myself tucking into everything on the table as I have never tasted anything but the muck that they used to feed us in the cells. Within a matter of minutes my stomach feels as if it is going to burst; another thing I have never felt before. Smiling, I say, "That chocolate cake sounds really good now; could I have some?" But, looking around, I can't see any chocolate cake on our table.

"Hey, anyone got cake on their table, we don't have any," Tris shouts, also noticing that there is not chocolate cake on our table. I see Zeke and some others following him. Zeke picks up some cake from a table and places it in front of Tris. "There you go my lady Tris," he says in a posh voice.

"Oh, it's not for me, it's for Ashe," she slides the plate to me as Zeke and the others sit down. "Thanks," I say

"Hi Ashe, this is, Marlene, Christina, Will, Al, Lynn and my brother: Uriah," Zeke introduces, pointing to everyone as he says their names.

"Hi Ashe; was Ashe your old name? It's such a lovely name." Christina asks.

"No; can you let me eat my cake?" I ask, almost drooling at the chocolatey goodness that I have been deprived of. Christina laughs cheerfully and then turns her attention to her friends.

I dig into the cake. It is the most delicious thing I have ever tasted. No wonder Jai recommended it, though I could have done without the flirting. Soon my plate is empty but even though I feel quite full, I still want some more of the delicious Dauntless pudding. But everyone else needs some as well. Pushing my plate away, I say in satisfaction, "Well, that was good."

As I finish my sentence a black man with greying brown hair walks up to the railing on the overlook above us. "Initiates stand," he says. We stand as he commands. "I'm Max, your leader here at Dauntless, for the next ten weeks you will go through initiation to make you full members of Dauntless," The Dauntless whoop. "Welcome to Dauntless," Max yells. Suddenly I get lifted up and I realize I'm crowd surfing with the other initiates. Laughing, I look up at the overlook and see Eric standing among the other leaders. And for the third time in four years we lock eyes but, this time we are smiling at each other.

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After the crowd surfing I decide to explore Dauntless on my own. Walking through the almost barren corridors, I realize that I have never been free to do whatever I please. And I certainly do feel free. My gentle plod around the corridors turns into a quick walk, then a light jog to a slow run. I run through some glass doors that lead outside. The sun is starting to set, basking the walls of the red brick Dauntless compound in an orange glow. I run around the compound but suddenly stop when, "Initiate! What are you doing?" calls a familiar deep voice. I spin around and cry, "Eric!"

"Abigail," he says, running over to me. I stand there smiling; he stops in front of me, grinning. "Somebody tell me this is real," he whispers, looking into my eyes. "Yes, this is real," I whisper back. Slowly, I wrap my arms around him and he pulls me in. "Abigail," he whispers again.

"I call myself Ashe now. But not spelt A S H. My name is Ashe: A S H E."

"Ashe... I like it. Why did you choose that name?"

"My mother died a year after you left. I scattered her ashes where we used to run. It's a way to remember that moment when I actually felt genuinely happy."

"I'm sorry,"

"You don't need to be sorry."

"I love you Ashe," Eric mumbles. He then pulls away and looks at me. "You're nearly as tall as me," he smiles. Giggling I say: "And you're a bigbadleader of Dauntless," Eric smiles and then places a gentle kiss on my lips. He pulls away and says, now looking slightly torn, "I have to go now. I have meeting to attend."

"Leadership duties! Oh the horror!" I laugh. "Good night then,"

"Training starts at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning. I have to help train both transfers and Dauntless born so I'll see you in the Pit. And one last thing Ashe. We can't let anyone know of our relationship 'coz people might think I'm favouring you over the others. Good night." He places one last soft kiss on my lips. He turns away and walks off. I stand there and watch Eric until he disappears from view.

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I lay in bed happy, happy that I am out of that hell hole, happy that I am here, happy that I am now with my beautiful Eric...

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**Hey, please review, I would like to know what you think. It's four o'clock in the morning, i had a nightmare, went to the loo and guess what I found. A huge bloody spider! I managed to stop myself from waking up the whole street but now I can't get to sleep because I can just imagine... I'm not even going to think about it.**

**ThatRandomBritishPerson signing off**


	5. Initiating The Brave Pt 1

**Bonjour people, this is ThatRandomBritishPerson posting her next chapter. Please review. This chapter get too long so I split it. Thank you Kandula, 91 and KK for reviewing, I was sad cause I had to go to the dentist but now I'm happy thanks to your reviews.**

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Ashes

Chapter 4

Initiating The Brave Pt 1

As my eyes slowly flicker open, dread of another day's torture at the cells fills me. But then the memories of the previous day flood back and I smile to myself in the dark. I look at the clock, it's 6:09, we are supposed to meet in the Pit at 8:00 sharp. For me this is a lay in, we had to get up at 5:00 on most days. I get up and head to the shower. I shut and lock the steel door as quietly as I can and strip off. I place my clothes on the raised metal shelf and hit the 'on' button. Cold water splashes down on me and I gasp. Grabbing the soap, I tell myself to get on with it and wash. I shower quickly and change into the training gear they've given us.

I don't know what to do, so I head to the Pit two hours early. When I get there I decide to look at the range of shops that they have here at Dauntless. As I walk along the row of shops I see an open sign. I stop and read the glowing neon sign: it claims that it's the hairdressers. My mind drifts to 5 years ago; I'd got into a huge fight with a guard at the cells. The result of that fight was a large cut going from my temple to an inch behind my ear. Thinking about it, there would still be a scar. It would be nice to show it off to the other Dauntless as a symbol of bravery, I guess. Smiling at my dauntless idea, I walk into the hairdressers and go up to the desk.

The room is dimly lit and everything is black, sticking with the traditional Dauntless customs. The leather seats are worn and covered in patches of randomly shaped leather, showing that whoever repaired them had no idea of what they were doing. The mirrors are large and dirty, though every movement throughout the shop can be seen, despite the thick layer of grime. The smell of smoke and alcohol linger in the air, causing me to cough a little at it's unpleasantness. The woman at the desk is slouching in her seat, her dyed red hair put up in a messy bun with strands hanging out in front of her sleep deprived eyes. I pull out my points card out of my pocket and hold it casually between my fingers as I lean against the desk.

"How much would it cost to have part of my hair shaved?" I ask the tired looking receptionist.

"Seeing as it's six in the morning I'll give you a discount, 5 points; usually it's 35 but I'm feeling generous. Bellatrix will shave your hair, she's just started her shift so she won't mess it up." She says quickly, probably having no idea that she has given me the biggest discount of all time. I hold up my points card which the receptionist has to scan a few times to get it to work. Sighing deeply, shd points to a blonde, leather clad woman who I presume is Bellatrix.

I stride over to her and sit down in the seat. Bellatrix stands behind me, setting up scissors and razors. She doesn't look as tired as the receptionist but it is clear that she has not had much sleep either.

"So ya want part ya hair shaved. How would you like it?" She asks in a drawly accent.

Pointing as I go, I say, "Well, I'd like a strip shaved on my right side, front to back,"

"Yeah I get it; it'll look nice on ya, good choice." Of course she doesn't know about the scar. That'll make it look even better. Bellatrix cuts the section I described perfectly, then shaves it; not too short so there is not just stubble left, but short enough to show the scar, and so it is soft. Bellatrix pulls my black hair into a ponytail and hands me a mirror. It's perfect, you can see the long white scar extend from the front to the back. "Thanks," I say to Bellatrix.

"I guess ya wanna show off that scar," she remarks.

"Yeah, it'll make me stand out," I smile at her.

"You're an initiate, aren't ya?"

"Yeah,"

"A transfer?"

"Yeah,"

"That scar will scare them, transfers and Dauntless born. They don't know what it's like to be attacked by someone who seriously means to hurt ya; I can tell that ya know."

"I just wanted to show the scar, not scare everyone," I say, slightly offended. Bellatrix puts the mirror down on the table next to her.

"I guess people will only find it scary if ya act bad during initiation though," Bellatrix sighs, "Eric was like that during his initiation, turning instantly from weedy Erudite kid to a full blown Dauntless and then beating the crap outta everyone, except Four, Four thrashed him so much that Eric had to opt out. Eric is hot though, actually I'm trying to get him to go out with me, but he's always so unapproachable."

Without thinking I snap, "Eric will never love you, he has secrets and those secrets make him incapable of loving," anyone except me. Bellatrix looks surprised but then her face darkens.

"How can you say that, you don't even know him," she snaps back.

"The first 14 years of my life me and Eric were best friends, then he left for Dauntless. He has his secrets and I am the only person that he trusts!" Then I punch Bellatrix in the nose and knee her the groin. The sudden outburst of anger fills me with adrenaline and I storm out and head to the bottom of the Pit. I see a small fence and lean against it. I stand there for about 15 minutes, brooding about my actions.

"You're in my spot," says a familiar deep voice. A small smile creeps onto my face. "Sorry Eric, I didn't know, I'll move along so you can have it," I say, shifting a few feet down the fence. He leans on the fence next to me. "What's the time?"

"6:30 ish,"

"Seriously,"

"Did you really attack that hairdresser?"

"I wouldn't say attacked, more like um, punched her in the nose,"

"Why did you punch her in the nose?"

"Um, we had an argument about... you."

He smiles, "Over me, wow, I never thought I was so popular."

"Hey Eric,"

"Yes Ab...Ashe,"

"Do you want see my new hair cut,"

"Okay," I turn to show him my newly shaved hair.

"The scar, that's good. Not many people in Dauntless have scars like you and I have. That's a really nice way to show yours off."

"Eric,"

"What?"

"Can you show me how to fight properly?"

"Really Ashe? I've seen you fight before, you can fight properly."

"Show me, I need something to do for an hour and a half," I stand facing him. "Okay Ashe," He raises his hands. "Punch my hands, I want to see how hard you can hit,"

"Are you sure, you can back out now while you're still safe," I mock.

"No, you just pleaded for me to show you," I hit his hands a few times, as hard as I can, though I think I can hit harder. "Very good, seeing as you're doing it wrong," Eric stands behind me and moves my arms and legs. He whispers in my ear, "When you punch, shift your weight from your back leg to your front leg, then you might be able to really hurt somebody," He comes back and stands in front of me again. "Again," I hit his hands again using the thing he told me to do. I am satisfied this time. "Good, now kick my hands."

I guess time flies when you're having fun because after what feels like 20 minutes, Four comes up to us. "Eric, I've woken up the transfers. I'll go set up the guns," he says then walks off.

"Ashe, you start today with a run around the compound, and then you'll learn how to shoot a gun and then you'll be learning how to fight," Eric says to me and then leans against the fence. Yay, a run, this is going to be fun. I stand in front of Eric and soon all the other transfers are around me.

"You will be trained over five weeks in 3 stages, first physical, push your body to the breaking point, second mental, push your mind to the breaking point, third, a mix of them both. We will train you separate from the Dauntless born but you will be ranked together,"

"Why do we need to be ranked?" asks Trinity, that annoying Erudite bitch.

"You are ranked so that you get a job corresponding to where you are ranked. Also the bottom 20 will get cut; there are 20 of you and 20 of the Dauntless born, let's hope that all of you don't become Factionless,"

Again Trinity speaks up, "If I'd have known that I could get cut then I wouldn't have joined Dauntless,"

I think some of that anger is still in me. "Then get out, a true Dauntless wouldn't care if they might get cut."

"And you're not scared?," she yells back.

"No, I'm not, I know that I won't get cut because I will fight hard and won't give in,"

Eric cuts in before I can yell even more. "She's right you know, if you think that then get out, now," he says quietly, a cold anger twisting around his words. Trinity shuffles to the back. I hate that girl, she thinks she can waltz in here and just do whatever she wants.

After telling the other transfers the training schedule, Eric leads us to the entrance where we are supposed to start our run. Four is sitting with Tris on a pile of boxes, waiting for us.

"Take the initiates for a run," Eric tells them. It must be fun to be a leader, always having to boss people around. Tris and Four slip down from the boxes. "Do some quick stretches, then we'll leave," orders Four. Eric then sits on the boxes, a clear expression of boredom on his face. We all do some stretching as Trinity stands there looking confused. Four shouts at her to start stretching. She leans forwards to touch her toes but she loses her balance and falls on her arse. "Seriously," Four sighs, "Did you accidentally drop your blood in the Dauntless bowl?"

"No," Trinity whispers, "I got Dauntless in my aptitude test," Pathetic, she probably got Amity. "Are you sure?" I ask. She whimpers and hangs her head. "Don't be mean to the little smartass, Ashe, that's my job," Eric says sternly, though I can see the smile playing at his lips, showing his hidden affection for me.

Tris kindly helps Trinity up. Trinity brushes down her leggings and walks over to me. Angrily, she raises her fist to punch me. She holds it there for a while, making me burst out laughing. She swings, I quickly stop laughing and I catch her fist in my hand. I then push her back and punch her in the nose, similarly to how I hit the hairdresser this morning. Trinity falls back clutching her nose, tears shimmering in her eyes. Sighing, I walk over to Tris. "Aren't we supposed to be running?" I ask her in a polite tone.

"Yes, today would be good," Eric snidely.

"Come on," commands Four as he starts running off. I follow him in what I call I light jog around the compound. Others seem to think it as a huge tiring run, but then they haven't run across the marsh every Sunday...

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Four leads us to the roof, where the guns are set up. Eric is leaning on the wall opposite. We lock eyes and smile at each other before anyone notices. We line up in front of the orange targets, one per person. They're the shape of human bodies. Nice. Tris gives us a gun each and shows us how to load it. Surprisingly, Trinity does it first time. I have to try a few times before I can load mine properly. Tris hands Four the gun she loaded. Four then shows us how to fire.

I go up to my station and copy Four's stance. I look down the barrel and aim for the chest. I press the trigger. The aftershock sends me a few steps back. I just clipped the shoulder of the target. I look at the other targets. Everyone has hit around the chest area except me. Great start Ashe, great start. I try again, I still just clip the edge. I try again and again and again and again. I still can't hit the chest. I continue to hopelessly miss the chest until it's time for us to stop. Four yells at us to put our guns away and head to lunch. I happily do so; I guess I'm not a gun person.

I sit with Four and Tris again. Uriah and the rest are working so they aren't here but Zeke and Lauren sit with us. Playing with my food, I overhear Trinity talking loudly to some Dauntless born girls. "Hey, you wanna go shopping tonight? You could help me get an awesome Dauntless outfit," she asks them. Like they'd help her. "Err, we might not be able to come but we'll try to," they say as a polite no. Suddenly, a good but quite mean idea comes into my head. I get up just as Jai sits down next to me. I walk over to the Dauntless born girls table and sit on an empty chair.

"Hi, I'm Ashe. Seeing as the other transfers and I don't really get along, I need someone to go shopping with. Any help here? Otherwise I'll have to go on my own." I say, getting to the point.

"Yeah okay, I'd rather go with you than that Trinity person, she seems, I don't know how to say it," say Amber, one of the Dauntless born.

"Not very Dauntless," I say.

"Exactly! Why don't the transfers like you? You're amazing, I've been talking with you for less than a minute and you've already made me like you."

"Amber, can I come on your shopping trip?" Tami a pale, green haired Dauntless born asks.

"Can I come too?" another Dauntless born, Amari, asks. Amari has dark skin and speaks with a exotic accent.

"Yeah," I shrug.

"Can I ask you something?" Tami asks me.

"Okay,"

"What were you doing with Eric last night? I walked round the corner and saw you talking. I didn't see much, only the last tiny bit of your conversation. It seems like you are good friends with him..."

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**Argh, cliffhanger, it's so tense. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'll update as soon as possible. ThatRandomBritishPerson signing out.**


	6. Dear Readers

Dear readers,

I have some good and bad news for you.

The good news is that I have 11 weeks off so I'll be writing lots. Also, I've made a new account called whatwouldumanicsliketodofirst which you can reach here: ~whatwouldumaniacsliketodofirst . I'll be writing some new fanfics on there so be sure to check them out.

Also, I'll be transferring some of the fics that I've written on here and would like to continue over to my new account. This is where the bad news comes in. I have decided to stop writing this fic Ashes as I haven't had any inspiration or any really want to do anything with this. Sorry guys. But hey I have some more good news. I've begun writing a new Eric x OC fic which I feel will be better than this one ever was. I'll be publishing it after I've written a couple of chapters, which should be sometime in July.

It's going to be called Boulevard of Broken Dreams as it is inspired by Green Day's song under the same day. Here's a quick summary which I've come up with off the top of my head:

"Edith Ward!" When my name was called out at the choosing ceremony, I knew everything was going to change. I transferred from Candor to Dauntless so that I could be different from the rest of my family and friends. Hopefully joining Dauntless would make me feel different. To start with I was wrong. I was a transfer just like the others. I felt alone as nobody else seemed to feel that way. But, he helped me. At first he was cold and hateful, but then he began to understand me. He found me and guided me in the direction I wanted to go. And that's why I'll always love him.

See you on my new account!


	7. Boulevard Of Broken Dreams Teaser

Hi, again. Just to let you know that a teaser for my new fic, Boulevard Of Broken Dreams, is up on tumblr.

Copy and paste this into your search engine and remove the spaces, then it should take you there: whatwouldumaniacsliketodofirst . tumblr post / 146557678430 / boulevard-of-broken-dreams-chapter-1-teaser

Also, if you cannot find my new account, just copy and paste this - www . fanfiction . net /u / 7990616 / - into your search engine, and remove the spaces and it should take you to my new account where I'll be posting Boulevard Of Broken Dreams soon.

Thanks,

whatwouldumaniacsliketodofirst (formerly ThatRandomBritishPerson)


	8. Boulevard Of Broken Dreams Is Up!

Boulevard Of Broken Dreams is officially up! Yay! To find it all you need to do is search the name of my fic in the search bar in the right-hand corner of the page, under your account name/ login or sign up button. Make sure the search is set to story (which it usually is by default) and it should come up. If not just contact me and I'll send you a link via my new account. Bye, see you on my new account.


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